20100116

a version of the many-versioned dan dan mian, or sichuan spicy noodles. wiki says this about it. fuchsia dunlop has lots to say about sichuan cuisine, including the dan dan mian in the city chengdu. i have nothing but this blog entry.

i honestly don't know what the traditional recipe is. the only versions i have eaten have all used wheat noodles with some sort of ground meat (pork or beef), bathed in an oily red broth that includes sesame oil, red chili peppers, and if i'm lucky, sichuan peppers. most are soupy and/or oily, for which i confess, i have no predilection as it seems to simultaneously dilute and muddy the spice in the dish. i have tried both of ms. dunlop's recipes and i prefer one to the other, but still felt the need to tweak it by incorporating chubby hubby's japanese version. there's still some of the funk you expect, yet it's brightened up with the addition of fresh chilis, which also adds a lot of heat. (you can dial that down if you want.)

heat cooking oil in medium hot pan. when oil is hot but not smoking, add dried chili peppers and sichuan pepper, sautée until fragrant but be careful to not burn. add preserved mustard greens, then protein of choice. sautée until lightly browned. add sesame paste, mirin, sesame oil, black vinegar. the mixture should be wet; keep soupy or cook down to desired dryness. add half the green onions and jalapeño to mixture, leave until just wilted. serve over noodles of choice and garnish with rest of green onions and jalapeño.

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comments:

I am about to be like one of those horrible AllRecipes commenters that is all I made this turkey tetrazzini using tuna instead of turkey and apple cider instead of milk plus also puffed rice instead of noodles and it turned out nothing like the photo led me to believe, but it is our favorite Wednesday night supper!, lol.

But not exactly.

I read this while I was acutely aware of some adult-allocated ground pork thawed in the fridge and while reading it realized that I had both all-buckwheat soba and also scallions. So, I decided to give it a whirl, but used kimchi for the watercress and I did not have jalapeno. Oh, also, I didn't have mirin but I used a half-measure of honey and half rice wine vinegar (Bittman), but if I were to do that again with this, I would add another 30% vinegar.

It was good. What is interesting is that I pre-emptively decided to dial down the heat and then while re-reading yr post to the Mr as I caught him up on what it was upon which we supped -- What's this called? "I dunno. Do you like it or not?" -- we decided that you were completely right on, because it was tasty, but savorishly funky, and as such it needed more heat.

i cheat w/ the amoy spicy sichuan noodle sauce, though i've tried others, but they tasted off. then i like to throw in some blanched spinach or fresh bean sprouts. yes, i'm a lazy cook sometimes. hehehe

there's this "narcissus" brand that we usually buy in Singapore, I can send you a can when I am there usually for summer! It's nice with congee. The good thing about this is that the meat is already marinated and nice. (and convenient!)

DISCLAIMER: this is a personal journal with no desires to be anything but. it contains my opinion with occasional fact thrown in; recipes have been tested where noted, in an unairconditioned kitchen in the tropics. YMMV. for my sake and yours, consult a professional!